


All Along the Watchtower - (I) Fell in Love with a Boy

by Bella_Monoxide



Series: The Little Things... in the Apocalypse [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Judith is two years old, M/M, Mild Language, Prison setting, They never left, Underage Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Monoxide/pseuds/Bella_Monoxide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl makes an interesting discovery while Rick is up to something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Along the Watchtower - (I) Fell in Love with a Boy

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like I had to up the rating for this chapter.  
> A huge Thank You goes out to my trusted beta-reader pharmtechgirl71 again. You are awsome!

Over the next two weeks, Daryl got over his cabin fever. He went full force into training the other group members and felt real proud of their progress. Rick had asked him to hold an additional course, since he had noticed on that last run how important it could be to be able to tell the time of day by looking at the sun's position in the sky, and things like that.

Daryl brushed it off at first, assuming that Rick only tried to make him feel better about his situation, but when Rick got quite insistant about it, Daryl came up with a few things that would come in handy for everyone.

If you had to be able to run for your life at any possible moment it would be helpful to know where you ended up after such a flight. And things like getting a fire going, or even tracking for the more advanced people would be useful. Daryl had secretly christened it the Boy Scout Course, but did only tell Carl once at crossbow training.

He had held such a course right before Carl's lesson, and still chuckled about it when Rick's son had turned up. Being asked to share the joke, Daryl confessed the made up name to Carl – who promptly told him that Rick had always wanted to join the Boy Scouts with him.

Which had promptly set both Carl and Daryl off into fits of giggles, since neither of them could imagine Rick all dressed up in that gear, especially since Terri had once told them about her husband wearing the stuff all the time, and how weird he had looked in it.

* * *

Daryl had just finished one of those lessons and was heading inside to talk to Carl about their next hunt, which would hopefully take place very soon, as food was always an issue. He had told Carl that next time they would head out together.

Carl had wanted to go before that, maybe taking Zach or someone else with him, but both Daryl and Rick had vetoed that. After a minor teenager tantrum, Carl had given it up, seeing Daryl's point. Going out hunting for the first time alone, with a weapon he had just learned how to handle, was far from being a good idea.

And even though Zach had tried his hand on learning how to shoot a compound bow, he was nowhere near being ready to head out to hunt with it. Instead, Zach spent more time on fixing cars and keeping them in as good of a shape as they could manage, putting his before-the-world-went-to-shit-hobby to good use.

He had taken up teaching a few interested people as well to pass on is knowledge. Recently, Beth had joined that course and was doing rather well. Privately, Daryl found it highly amusing. Not because she was a woman, but to him it just seemed funny when she walked away from a car all covered in grease and stuff.

Prior to the course, she had always looked rather nice and clean, compared to their general standards these days. Unless, of course, she had Judith's food all over her clothes, Daryl mused to himself.  
On his way to Carl's cell, Daryl took a little detour to his own room, just to have a breather. He wanted to put his leg up for a bit, too, but would have denied that until his dying day. Arriving at his cell, he was already deep in thought, thinking back to that evening two weeks ago...

After Rick had told him about the second unicorn he had gotten for Judith, they had joked around for a bit more, but Daryl got sleepy shortly afterwards and Rick had insisted that he lay down, put his foot up, and went to sleep. Daryl had not wanted to, since Rick had only just gotten back.

After an awkward silence, Rick had looked into Daryl's pleading eyes and understood. He made clear that he had no intention of leaving anytime soon, and after Daryl had lied down, Rick had grabbed his hand again, holding on tight. Daryl fell asleep shortly afterwards, and when he woke up during the night, he found Rick snuggled up at his side, sound asleep and softly snoring.

He had spend quite some time just watching him sleep, all in awe about the fact that Rick looked so relaxed. All his troubles had seemed to have dropped off his shoulders, and that left him looking years younger. Daryl thought yet again how happy it made him to be the reason for that. Usually, Rick did not look like this in his sleep, his worries always haunting him visibly.

After a while, Daryl had fallen back asleep, and when he woke up next, it was morning already, and Rick was gone – but Daryl had found the little unicorn in his stead, sitting on the pillow beside him.  
Since that day, Daryl had felt something shift between them, but he was not sure what it was all about yet.

He had never had any particular interest in women, but had always chalked it up to Merle's bad example. The women his older brother favoured had no appeal whatsoever in Daryl's eyes; Merle just used them for a quick ride in the back seat of his truck and had told Daryl they were good enough for that and it was all he cared about. But Daryl wanted more.

He absentmindly put his hand in his pocket and pulled the little unicorn out. Holding it, he suddenly realised that he had done this quite often since Rick had given it to him.

Geez, he thought, am I turning into some Dixon version of a romantic girl or what in the heck is happening here? Maybe I should re-name myself after all, have everyone call me Darleena like Merle did way back then.

Not getting anywhere with his musings, he got up again and went to see Carl.

* * *

Meanwhile in Carl's cell, he and Zach had gotten into an argument about Rick and Daryl's relationship. It had started out with a casual question – Carl had asked Zach about his take on his dad's friendship, and Zach had been sure that the ex-cop and the hunter were falling for each other.

Carl had laughed, and Zach did not take that all too well. "I swear, Carl, there is something between them," he insisted heatedly, as he paced around in a small circle.

"I noticed that, too – but what makes you so sure about this? I mean, I am his son, you know. He did have a relationship with my mom. I'm just having trouble believing that my dad suddenly turned gay, 's all..." Carl replied.

Zach stopped his pacing, looking at the teen he had gotten to like so much, sprawled out on the bed, which did nothing to improve his focus on the conversation. "I..." He started, but drifted off, his eyes still focused on Carl.

For a moment, they just looked into each other's eyes, silently communicating. Then Carl patted the bed beneath himself and motioned for Zach to join him. Zach complied, sitting down close to Carl. He had found that he could not resist to touch him whenever it was possible, and at some point, Carl had noticed that, too.

He had asked Zach about it, looking at him with those big blue eyes that made Zach feel all squishy inside. For a moment, he had been tempted to deny it, telling Carl he was imagining things, but quickly decided to go for it. And he proceeded to tell Carl about the few girlfriends he had, but that it never worked out.

When Carl had asked him why that was, Zach had been honest and told him the rest of his story – he had only realised that he liked boys way better, when a new guy had transferred to his high school. From the day Drew turned up in Zach's class, he had been a goner. And after finding that the feeling was actually mutual, he had never looked back.

Carl took those news comparatively well, and Zach was relieved. After that conversation, Carl had gotten closer to Zach everyday, wondering about his own sexual orientation. Way back then, when they arrived at the prison, he had thought for some time that he liked Beth a lot. But after a while he felt like she was an older sister to him more than anything else.

Only Zach's arrival and, later on, his friendship, made him realise his tendency towards his own sex, and he tried to get more physical with Zach. But the older boy was strangely reluctant to go further than touches and the occasional hug. Sometimes, Carl got frustrated about it, and one day he had confronted Zach with it, demanding an answer.

After quite a bit of blushing and beating around the bush, Zach had told Carl that he was wary because of their age difference, or, more precisely, Carl's age. In addition to that, Zach feared that Rick might get mad, and there was no way the others would not notice that their friendship had reached another level, eventually.

But Carl managed to convince Zach over time to at least touch each other more – and a couple weeks back, Zach had finally kissed him, and Carl had been over the moon about that.  
Now Zach took Carl's hand in his and caressed his knuckles with his thumb. "You know, the day your dad went on that run in Daryl's place, I called you back from Daryl's cell for a reason."

"Yeah?" Carl said, looking over at him, waiting for his explanation.

"Man," Zach sighed, "I love your eyes so much..." And he swallowed. Clearing his throat, he carried on while Carl beamed at him. "Yes. I thought they could use some time to say goodbye to each other properly."

After a while, Carl said "You know, you've got a point there. When I went into Daryl's room to tell dad the group was ready to head out, they were holding hands and looking each other in the eye..." He stared off into the distance, thinking.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing, which caused Zach to look at him questioningly. "I was just thinkin'," Carl said, still grinning, "that knowing my dad, he doesn't have a clue what's going on!" And that caused Zach to chime right into Carl's amusement.

* * *

Walking towards Carl's cell, Daryl heard laughter and he guessed that Rick's son was spending some time off with his friend Zach. As he got closer, the laughter had slowly faded, and when Daryl poked his head in, looking around the door into Carl's room, he caught a strange sight.

Stunned into silence, he looked at Carl and Zach, all tangled up into each other's arms, sharing a passionate kiss. Daryl debated walking backwards and doing so as if he did not see anything, but decided against it. Knowing his luck, that would be the one time where he would not manage to walk quietly, and that would be even more embarrassing for everyone.

Well, he thought, at least someone is happy together. And why the heck did I think that just now..? But his further musings were cut short, as Carl and Zach had stopped kissing and opened their eyes. Carl saw Daryl first – and blushed a deep crimson red, which caused Zach to turn around.

When he saw Daryl standing in the doorway, he started to talk incoherently about knowing that Carl was much younger than him and such. Daryl quickly stopped him, saying "Don't get your panties in a twist. I think it's great you guys found each other, and it's nobody's business, anyway. I won't go and tell on you. Though I can't say I'm totally surprised..."

He chuckled, walked into the room properly and shut the door behind himself – as much as those darn things would close, anyway. When he turned back around, he was faced with two teenagers, looking at him incredulously.

"What?" He said. "These vibes were quite obvious between the two of you. And you do spend a lot of time together... Isn't exactly rocket science."

They ended up talking about a lot more than hunting, as initially intended, and Zach eventually got around to tell Daryl and Carl about an uncle he had, who moved to New York in order to live more freely – with his boyfriend of many years. Daryl nodded, and looked at them thoughtfully.

"You know, I had an uncle that turned out to be gay as well. Of course, in our family, that damn near was a death sentence..." He looked sad.

"Geez, that's terrible!" Zach said. "What happened to him, do you know?"

"Yeah. He went and moved to Atlanta in a cloak and dagger operation." Suddenly, he laughed. "Merle always joked around after that, 'bout me being secretly gay as well, 'cause I never fucked any of those whores you could pick up at these shady bars, you know, like he did. But who would want that, anyway?" And he looked at Carl and Zach, who shook their heads in disgust.

After some back- and forth discussion, they decided to keep quiet about Carl's and Zach's relationship for a while longer. Carl looked at Daryl questioningly. "Daryl, do you think I should tell my dad?"

"I dunno, Carl. You think he would take it bad? I guess he could be ok with it – once he manages to get over the general problems..."

"What do you mean by that?" Zach said.

"Well," Daryl answered, amused, "I think Rick will have a bigger problem realising his son is all grown up, having a relationship and all that jazz, than who he has it with, don't you?" And he winked at them. Zach and Carl looked stunned.

Ater a while, Carl answered "You know, you might be right about that. He's still having trouble with me making suggestions about safety and such. How could he just accept that I have a boyfriend?"

Zach beamed at him for that. Up until then, they had never voiced this aloud, unsure of the nature of their relationship and afraid to scare the other off somehow.  
Daryl looked at them fondly, pretended that he was going to be late for his next class, and left them making gooey eyes at each other.

* * *

While Daryl walked through the prison, on his way to the next class he would be teaching, musing about Carl being all grown up, Rick was busy carrying out a surprise he had been preparing for the hunter for some time now.

One evening a couple weeks back, Beth had sung for them in their common area after dinner, while Heather, a young woman that had been with Terri when they found her holed up in a house during a run, strummed a guitar to back up Beth's singing. After they finished the song, Daryl and Beth had gotten into a heated argument.

Beth, a huge Bob Dylan fan, had defended the original version with verbal teeth and nails, while Daryl insisted the Hendrix version was way better. In the end, both had been quite angry and were still miffed at each other at breakfast the next day.

In fact, their fighting had gotten Judith so upset that Daryl had snatched her up and went to her room with her, trying to calm her down. After a couple of stories and even some singing, she finally settled down enough to sleep.

Geez, he thought on his way back to the common area, that little girl sure doesn't like us fighting, and he shook his head.

Rick found Beth and Daryl's verbal exchange more amusing than anything else, but it also got him thinking that maybe Daryl missed his music sometimes. In order to help him out there, Rick had tried to get a CD of the Hendrix version somehow, but had to team up with an additonal person at some point, when he found his task a little too challenging for himself alone.

His partner in crime turned out to be Zach, who had not only offered to keep his eyes peeled when he went on runs, but had also pointed out a vital error in Rick's plan. Because, how would Daryl listen to a CD without a player? And even if he had one, how would he power it?

Zach had told Rick not to worry, that if push came to shove they could listen to the CD in his precious car, but Rick would rather have a battery powered player. That way, Daryl could listen to his music whenever he felt like it.

The last run to a nearby town had turned out to be a bummer, but at least they got a few canned goods and assorted things. The best part about it, or so Rick thought at least, had been a lot of batteries, some of which would fit into the small portable CD player Rick had managed to find in a private home.

But it was Zach who returned to the prison from the last run he participated in, bearing the CD Rick had been searching for. Now Rick was on his way to Daryl's cell to place the player and music there, for the hunter to find in the evening.

* * *

After dinner Daryl went to Judith's room to read her a bedtime story, and Rick tagged along as he had done a couple times now. While Daryl read, Rick just sat with him and his daughter, listening and watching the hunter.

Damn, he thought, Daryl looks kinda cute with those glasses perched on his nose, and he stared off into the distance, pondering. His view fell on the unicorn plush toy he had gotten his daughter, and he smiled. After a while he noticed that it was very quiet, and he looked back at Daryl and Judith. The little girl started to giggle, but Daryl looked at him thoughtfully.

"What?" Rick asked.

"Oh nothing; you just whistled under your breath, 's all." Daryl replied, still looking at him in wonder. Later, when they had stepped out of Judith's room, Rick asked Daryl what he had been whistling.

"You know, that's just the thing – it was a Hendrix song," Daryl said, "it's called Little Wing."

While Rick looked caught, Daryl kept on walking, casually brushing a hand along Rick's arm. Gestures like these had become more and more frequent between the two, but usually took place in their more private moments. Rick and Daryl said good night to each other and went into their respective cells to catch some sleep before watch that night.

The last thing Rick heard before he fell asleep was a quiet knock on his door, followed by a softly hummed chord of All Along the Watchtower and a whispered 'thank you' – and the hunter's retreating feet.

**Author's Note:**

> "Fell in Love with a Boy" is a song by Joss Stone (though I am pretty sure it is not the original version), and I think it fits the Carl/Zach storyline rather well, so I just had to include it.
> 
> Comments are welcome - let me know what you think.


End file.
